Consultation on proposed changes to fees for statutory plant health services provided by the Animal and Plant Health Agency in England and Wales © Crown copyright 2017
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[email protected] www.gov.uk/defra Contents
Contents...... 3
Summary...... 1
1. Introduction...... 3
2. Government policy on charging for services...... 5
3. New cost methodology...... 5
4. Import inspection services...... 7
Background...... 7
Current charging position...... 8
Proposed changes to fees...... 8
Impact on businesses...... 9
5. Sampling and testing of potatoes from Egypt and Lebanon...... 10
Background...... 10
Current charging position...... 10
Proposed change to fees and impacts on businesses...... 10
6. Seed potato certification services...... 11
Background...... 11
Current charging position...... 11
Proposed changes to fees...... 12
Impact on businesses...... 13
7. Plant passporting services...... 13
Background...... 13
Current charging position...... 14
Proposed changes to fees...... 14
Impact on businesses...... 15 8. Potato cyst nematode testing...... 15
9. Export certification services...... 16
Background...... 16
Current charging position...... 17
Proposed changes to fees...... 17
Impact on businesses...... 19
Export advice...... 20
10. Plant health licensing services...... 21
Background and current charging position...... 21
Proposed changes to fees...... 21
Impact on businesses...... 22
11. Fruit propagating material certification services...... 22
Background and current charging position...... 22
Proposed changes to fees...... 23
Impact on businesses...... 23
Annex A – Consultation questions...... 24
Annex A 1...... 31
Organisations invited to respond...... 31
Annex B – Background on plant health services and charging policy...... 32
Why do we need statutory plant health services?...... 32
Rationale for intervention...... 33
Review of fees for plant health services in 2011/12...... 33
Annex C – Proposed charges for import inspections...... 34
Annex D – Proposed charges for seed potato certification services...... 37
Annex E – Proposed phasing in of fees for plant passporting...... 39
Annex F – Proposed charges for export services...... 40 Annex F1 – proposed fees for testing export seed samples to meet specialist requirements determined by the importing country...... 41
Annex F2 – proposed phasing in of (1) fees for inspection visits, (2) additional fees for issue of a phytosanitary certificates and for testing samples...... 43
Annex G - Proposed charges for plant health licensing services...... 44
Annex G1- Proposed phasing in of fees for licensing services...... 45 Summary
Consultation on proposed changes to fees for statutory plant health services provided by the Animal and Plant Health Agency in England and Wales
Topic of this consultation Proposed changes to the charging structure and fees for the following services: Inspection of imported plants and plant material and sampling and testing of potatoes imported from Egypt and the Lebanon;
Seed potato certification;
Plant passporting;
Export certification;
Plant health licensing and
Certification of fruit propagating material.
The proposals are about changing how we charge for these services. The scope and nature of these services is not changing and they will continue their important role of protecting the health of our crops, produce, trees and plants.
The consultation also seeks information about the impact of the proposals on businesses, including small or micro-businesses.
Scope of this consultation On 23 June 2016 the EU referendum took place and the people of the UK voted to leave the EU. Until exit negotiations are concluded the UK remains a full member of the EU and all the rights and obligations of EU membership remain in force. During this period the Government will continue to negotiate, implement and apply EU legislation. The outcome of these negotiations will determine what arrangements apply in relation to EU legislation in future once the UK has left the EU. This consultation covers fees for plant health services in the context of current EU legislation and international obligations. We are not seeking comments on potential implications for these services and associated fees of the UK leaving the EU.
Geographical scope The proposals cover fees for plant health services in England and Wales delivered by the Animal and Plant Health Agency. It does not extend to fees charged in Scotland and Northern Ireland, where there is separate legislation and associated fees.
1 To This consultation has particular relevance to organisations which use plant health services, including importers, seed potato growers, horticultural nurseries, exporters, research companies and institutions and fruit growers, and organisations which represent service users.
Body responsible for the This consultation is being carried out by Defra’s Plant Health consultation Programme on behalf of the Governments in England and Wales.
Duration 8 weeks. 6 September 2017 – 31 October 2017
Enquiries If you have any questions about this consultation or wish to receive hard copies of this document, please contact: [email protected]
How to respond Our preferred method of receiving responses is via the Citizen Space site because it is the fastest and most cost-effective way for us to collate and analyse responses. https://consult.defra.gov.uk/animal-health/proposed-changes-to- fees-for-statutory-plant-healt-services/
However, if you wish to respond to the consultation by email or in writing (see Annex A for the consultation questions), please send responses to: [email protected]
or Plant Health Programme – Fees consultation Room 11G35 Defra, Sand Hutton York YO41 1LZ
Please make sure your responses reach us by 31 October 2017.
After the consultation At the end of the consultation period we will summarise the responses and place this summary on the Government website at www.gov.uk/defra.
The summary will include a list of names and organisations that responded but not personal names, addresses or other contact details. Information provided in response to this consultation, including personal information, may be subject to publication or release to other parties or to disclosure in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the Data Protection Act 1998.
If you want information, including personal data, that you provide to be treated as confidential, please say so clearly in writing in your response to the consultation, why you need to keep these details
2 confidential. If we receive a request for disclosure under the FOIA, we will take account of your explanation, but we cannot provide assurance that confidentiality will be maintained in all circumstances. Please note, if your computer automatically includes a confidentiality disclaimer, this will not count as a confidentiality request.
Compliance with This consultation is in line with the government’s Consultation Consultation Principles Principles, which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/consultation-principles- guidance
1. Introduction 1. Through this consultation the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Welsh Government are seeking your views on proposed changes to the charging structure and fees for the following statutory plant health services provided in England and Wales by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA):
1) Inspection of imported plants and plant material
2) Sampling and testing of potatoes imported from Egypt and the Lebanon
3) Seed potato certification
4) Plant passporting
5) Export certification
6) Plant health licensing.
2. These services, apart from export certification, seek to prevent the introduction and spread of organisms harmful to plants or plant products and are crucial therefore in protecting England and Wales against pest and disease risks arising from the trade in plants and plant material. They protect our nation’s crops, produce, trees and other plants from the threat of pests and diseases and help support the government’s goal of leaving the natural environment in a better state than we found it.
3. Export certification services facilitate trade to third countries by providing assurance that the exported material complies with the importing country’s requirements to protect plant health in that country. Export certification provides assurance of the high quality of British exports and this service supports the government’s ambition to grow more, sell more, and export more food around the world.
4. The consultation also seeks views on proposed fees for the certification of fruit propagating material, following the change this year from a voluntary to a statutory
3 scheme as a result of harmonisation changes to EU legislation. This service is also provided by APHA on behalf of Defra and the Welsh Government. 5. The review and the proposals outlined in this consultation document do not affect the scope of APHA’s plant health services. Inspections will continue to be conducted with the same rigour and using a risk-based approach.
6. The main purpose of the consultation is to explain the proposed changes to how we charge for these services and to seek your comments. The proposals cover changes to improve the simplicity, transparency and fairness of the fees, including aligning them more closely to the cost of delivering the service to individual customers. They also reflect changes in the cost of service delivery as well as changes to ensure that all eligible costs are fully recovered.
7. In addition, you are invited to suggest other options on how to charge for these services, consistent with recovering the costs of service delivery. We are also seeking information about the impact of the proposals on businesses, including small or micro businesses. Around 2650 businesses and organisations currently use these services. The consultation questions are listed in Annex A of this document. Annex A1 lists the organisations we have invited to respond to the consultation.
8. The proposals stem from a fundamental review of the methodology for calculating the cost of providing these services and the associated fee structures, which Defra and APHA initiated in 2015. The review’s aims were to:
ensure that the cost methodology includes all eligible costs and provides a long term, robust basis for charging for these services and which is consistent with delivering the Government’s objective of full cost recovery.
improve simplicity, transparency and fairness of charges, as well as looking for different ways to recover the costs of services to align the fees more closely to the cost of delivering the service to individual customers. 9. APHA spends around £14m each year on plant health activities, including the provision of services to businesses, surveillance and outbreak control. In 2016/17, £5.498m was recovered from businesses to cover the cost of providing statutory chargeable services.
10.As part of this review, we have shared the emerging proposals with the government- business task forces set up in in 2012 following a previous review of plant health fees, with the aim of developing more efficient plant health services and simple and transparent fees. This informal consultation has been helpful in informing the development of the proposals set out in this document.
11.We are aiming to introduce the new fees in April 2018. For three of the services (exports, plant passporting and plant health licensing), following informal consultation with the task forces, we are proposing to phase in the increases in certain fees in three steps to be completed by April 2019. Further details on phasing are given in Chapters
4 8, 9 and 10. The proposed phasing is intended to allow time for businesses to plan and prepare for the fee increases and the changes in how they will be charged.
12.The proposed fees in this document are based on costs of £5.746m for 2016/17, calculated using actual levels of service activity or volumes data from April 2016 to March 2017.
13.Advances in APHA’s capabilities due to new technology will lead to new ways of working in the future, such as on-site testing of samples taken for statutory purposes. We will keep customers informed about such developments including any changes to charges.
14.Annex B provides further background on why we need statutory plant health services and the previous review of plant health fees in 2011/12. 2. Government policy on charging for services
15.The HM Treasury guidance “Managing Public Money” 1 explains that it is UK Government policy to charge for many publicly provided goods and services. The standard approach is to set fees to recover the full costs of service delivery. This relieves the general taxpayer of costs, so that they are properly borne by users who benefit from a service. This allows for a more equitable distribution of public resources and enables lower public expenditure and borrowing.
16.Charging for plant health services is consistent with the principle that businesses using these services should bear the costs of any measures to prevent harm that they might otherwise cause by their actions or non-actions, since most serious pests and diseases that arrive and spread in this country do so via commercial trade in plants and plant produce.
17.The current fees for five of the plant health services (import inspection, sampling and testing of potatoes from Egypt and Lebanon, seed potato certification, plant passporting and plant health licensing) are set out in the Plant Health (Fees) (England) Regulations 2014 (as amended). The regulations also contain provisions to allow for the recovery of any unpaid fees.
18.Fees for export certification services are set out in the Plant Health (Export Certification) (England) Order 2004 (as amended). In Wales, the fees are set out in the Plant Health (Fees) (Wales) Regulations 2014 (as amended) and the Plant Health (Export Certification) (Wales) Order 2006 (as amended).
1 Managing Public Money (July 2013) HM Treasury http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/mpm_whole.pdf
5 3. New cost methodology
19.Guided by “Managing Public Money”, APHA has reviewed the current2 methodology for calculating the cost of providing plant health services and developed a new methodology. This work included checking assumptions about which costs could be recovered3 to secure full eligible cost recovery, and ensuring that the costs associated with delivering each plant health service were allocated more accurately to that service. The improved precision of the new cost methodology helps to ensure that the charges for each service are based on the costs and resources used by that service. The fee proposals in this document are based on this new methodology.
20.As with the current methodology, the new methodology works on the basis that the costs incurred in one 12 month period are recovered by fees levied in the following 12 months. For example, fees for 2017/18 will be based on the costs incurred in providing services in the period April 2016 to March 2017.
21.Staff costs are a significant proportion of the eligible costs and are calculated from APHA’s bespoke IT system that all Plant Health Inspectors and support staff use to record their work for specific services (i.e. on and off site inspection time; travel time and back office support time).
22.The new methodology calculates travel costs for each service and these costs are apportioned into the proposed new fees for each service. We are not planning to charge customers separately for travel.
23.During the review it was found that not all eligible costs were being recovered under the current cost methodology for export certification and plant passporting services. The new methodology has been developed to address this under-recovery. Further details are given in Chapters 8 and 9.
24.Using the new methodology, the total eligible cost of the seven services covered in the consultation was £5.746m based 2016/17 cost data. This is £734,000 less than the £6.48m4 cost of service delivery using the current methodology. The reduction is due to greater precision in how the new methodology calculates the costs; designating some of the costs to be met by government as a public subsidy and efficiencies. APHA’s continuing work to identify efficiencies and new ways of working will contribute to reductions in these costs over time.
2 the methodology on which the existing charging arrangements and fees are based. The cost base for the existing fees is 2014/15.
3 for example eligible costs from Annex 6.1 of Managing Public Money (2013) include accommodation, fixtures and fittings, maintenance, including cleaning, utilities, office equipment, including IT systems, postage, printing, telecommunications, total employment costs of those providing the service, including training, overheads such as (shares of) payroll, audit, top management costs, legal services.
4 based on 2014/15 costs
6 25.Once the changes are implemented, Defra, the Welsh Government and APHA will continue to monitor and review costs, income and volume of activity for each service. We will revise fees as required to maintain full cost recovery. This would take into account efficiencies and/or reductions in costs which we would pass on to customers through lower charges.
4. Import inspection services Background
26.The import inspection service enables us to protect the biosecurity of England and Wales by carrying out checks at the border. By preventing pests and diseases from entering the country, import inspections help to protect crops, trees and plants from the threat of pests and diseases.
27.Around 80,000 to 100,000 consignments of plants and plant produce (e.g. plants, cut flowers, fruit, vegetables and herbs, potatoes, seeds for sowing, bulbs, grain and growing medium) are imported annually into England and Wales from non-EU countries. Much of this material is imported in large quantities, such as the 2.5 million tonnes of fruit and vegetables imported each year into the UK from over 90 non-EU countries5.
28.Plant material from non-EU countries which poses a risk of introducing harmful plant pests and diseases is subject to import controls. The review and the proposals outlined in the consultation document do not affect the scope of APHA’s import inspection services. Import inspections will continue to be conducted on a risk-basis and with the same rigour. In addition, we will continue to take appropriate action in response to interceptions of pests and diseases in order to protect our nation’s biosecurity.
29.Import controls comprise:
a documentary check - to ensure that consignments are accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate. This certificate provides initial assurance that consignments are free of specific quarantine pests and diseases and that all special import requirements have been met.
an identity check- an additional assessment of the documents accompanying consignments (commercial invoice, airway bill or bill of lading).
a physical inspection of the material imported - supported where needed by confirmatory laboratory diagnosis, of consignments to ensure they are free from harmful plant pests and diseases before the material can be cleared to enter the UK.
5 source: Fresh Produce Consortium
7 30.As described earlier, it is UK government policy to recover the costs of official checks to manage risks arising from commercial activity. In addition, the EU Plant Health Directive (2000/29/EC) requires Member States to charge for carrying out documentary and identity checks and physical inspections on consignments of plant health controlled material imported from outside the EU. This helps achieve a level playing field in import charges across the EU.
31.In 2016/17, 1,012 businesses imported 102,621 consignments from non-EU countries. Each of these consignments required a documentary check and an identity check and 66,104 were subject to a chargeable physical inspection. Current charging position
32.Fees for documentary checks and identity checks are currently charged separately at a flat rate of £5.71 per check per consignment. Physical inspection fees are set based on the type of material inspected (plants, cuttings, bulbs, shrubs etc.) and the size of the consignment (tonnage, number of plants etc). There is an initial fee for each inspection plus an extra charge for consignments above a standard volume, with a maximum charge cap in some cases. This reflects the standard approach to charging set out in the Plant Health Directive. There is no separate charge for any laboratory testing undertaken as part of the physical inspection – the cost is apportioned into the physical inspection fees and spread across all importers. Additional fees apply where, at the request of the importer, physical inspections are undertaken outside normal business hours. Proposed changes to fees
33.We are proposing changes to the package of fees for these services to simplify the mechanisms for charging and to align costs more closely with service consumption. In addition, a review of the cost base has enabled us to create administrative efficiencies. 34. The proposals are set out below with further details provided in Annex C:
1) Combine the separate charges for documentary checks and identity checks into one fee of £9.71.
2) Move from the volume-based approach to charging for physical inspections to a more cost-based approach, in effect flat fees for each commodity type irrespective of the size of the consignment. It has become apparent through the review that a flat fee irrespective of the size of the consignment is more closely aligned to how much resource it takes to inspect a consignment (i.e. inspection is done on a sampling basis and it generally takes the same time to inspect a consignment of 100 plants as it does to inspect a consignment of 500). The proposed approach is more closely aligned to how much resource it takes to inspect a consignment of a particular commodity and matches Managing Public Money principles.
8 Annex C includes a table of the current and the proposed fees for physical inspections. In order to simplify the range of fees, some of the existing charging categories have been merged.
3) Introduce a separate fee of £157.08 to recover the costs of laboratory testing where samples are taken by APHA inspectors because of the suspected presence of a harmful pest or disease. The cost of samples taken on suspicion is currently apportioned into physical inspection fees and spread across all importers. Under the new proposals, only those importers whose consignments are sampled on suspicion would pay. This is intended as an additional signal to importers reinforcing their important role in helping to protect our biosecurity through sourcing material from overseas suppliers with high biosecurity standards.
4) Given that shift working by APHA inspectors is now in place at several points of entry, the notion of ‘normal business hours’ in relation to import inspections no longer applies. The additional charge for inspections undertaken outside of ‘normal business hours’ will therefore be removed and the costs of this activity apportioned across all physical inspection fees.
35.These proposed changes to the fees, together with new cost methodology, will reduce the overall cost of the import inspection service by £543,000 a year (from £3.763m based on the current methodology and 2014/15 costs, to £3.220m based on the new methodology using 2016/17 costs). Approximately £141,000 of this reduction can be attributed to the savings achieved from combining the documentary checks and identity checks into one charge. The remaining £402,000 results from other efficiency gains and savings attributable to the new cost methodology. Impact on businesses
36.The new cost methodology will reduce the overall cost to the 1,012 businesses using import inspection services by £543,000 a year. The amount an individual business is charged will depend on their use of the service as we are proposing better align fees with how much resource it takes to inspect a consignment of a particular commodity. In addition, a separate fee will be introduced to recover the cost of testing samples taken from consignments because of the suspected presence of a harmful pest or disease.
37.Based on income data from 2016/17 compared with 2015/16 and our provisional understanding of how the proposed charging mechanisms will work, it is likely that approximately 73% of businesses will experience an increase in their costs, with:
21% experiencing an increase of £25 or less per year;
18% experiencing an increase of £26 to £100 per year;
22% experiencing an increase of £101 to £500 per year;
9 6% experiencing an increase of between £501 and £1,000 per year; and
7% experiencing an increase of between £1,001 and £6,000 per year.
38.The other approximately 27% of businesses could experience a decrease in their costs, with:
20% experiencing a decrease of between £1 and £1,000;
4% experiencing a decrease of between £1,001 and £5,000 per year;
1% experiencing a decrease of between £5,001 and £10,000 per year; and
2% experiencing a decrease of £10,001 or more a year.
39.Many of the businesses which use import inspection services import several consignments during the year. The figures above represent likely changes in the costs to businesses across the entire year. For example, APHA’s data suggests that the biggest impact on an individual customer could be an increase of £5,950 per year. However, this is spread across 1,084 individual invoices, with an average increase per invoice of £5.49.
5. Sampling and testing of potatoes from Egypt and Lebanon Background
40.Egypt and the Lebanon supply ware potatoes to the European market to cover the seasonal gap between availability of the main crop and the harvest of the first ‘earlies’ crop. However, Egypt has experienced outbreaks of potato brown rot and the Lebanon outbreaks of potato ring rot in recent years. Both diseases have quarantine status in the EU to restrict their spread, as infections can be very destructive and cause considerable yield losses.
41.The quarantine controls in place require that potatoes arriving from Egypt and the Lebanon are held at the point of entry into the UK and core samples taken by APHA inspectors and sent for testing for latent infection of brown rot and ring rot respectively.
42.In 2016/17, five businesses used this service and 29 tests were carried out. Current charging position 43.A fee applies for sampling and testing of potatoes arriving from these two countries. This control and associated fee are in addition to the normal plant health checks and
10 fees applied to imported plant material. The current charge is £117.36 for each lot sampled and tested. Proposed change to fees and impacts on businesses
44.Under the new cost methodology, the overall cost to business is reduced from £3,500 to £1,750 per year and the new fee will be reduced from £117.36 to £60.40 for each lot sampled and tested. There will be no changes to the scope of this service, which will continue to be conducted with the same rigour.
45.Given the £1,750 reduction in costs to businesses from the proposed reduction in fees, the average reduction in costs for each of the five businesses using this service could be approximately £350 per year. However, the actual impact on each of the five businesses will depend on the number of consignments imported.
6. Seed potato certification services Background
46.Seed potatoes produced and marketed in England and Wales must be certified under the Seed Potato Classification Scheme (SPCS). This scheme aims to provide assurance that seed potatoes delivered to buyers and growers meet the health and quality standards specified by the Seed Potatoes (England) Regulations 2015 and Seed Potatoes (Wales) Regulations 2016. The Regulations implement the requirements of Council Directive 2002/56/EC on the marketing of seed potatoes.
47.The SPCS is administered on behalf of Defra and the Welsh Government by APHA, which undertakes the following services to deliver this scheme:
Inspection of seed potato crops during the growing season and of potato tubers during or after sorting and grading to ensure that the standards for disease and defects specified in the Regulations have been met. In 2016/17, APHA inspected 3,993 hectares during the growing season and spent 658 hours inspecting potato tubers.
Provision of official seals and labels to growers specific for the crop/seed classification for which the application has been made. In 2016/17, APHA provided 102,000 printed labels and 27,000 blank labels to growers.
Soil testing required by applicants/growers to ensure absence of Potato Cyst Nematode (PCN) in fields on which they plan to grow seed potatoes. This service directly benefits applicants/growers and facilitates seed potato production. In 2016/17, APHA tested 4,980 hectares for this purpose.
48.In 2017/17, 58 businesses used seed potato certification services.
11 Current charging position
49.Fees are currently payable for growing season inspections of seed crops based on either the area planted or the time taken, depending on the seed grade for which the crop is entered. The inspection fee for harvested tubers is currently hectare-based for the first two inspections and time-based for the third and subsequent inspections.
50.The cost of providing official labels is apportioned across other fees for this service. There is currently no charge for soil testing for PCN, with the cost (£106,282 per year) currently being covered by public funding. Proposed changes to fees 51.We are proposing changes to the package of fees for these services to standardise and simplify the existing fees and improve fairness. In addition, the proposals seek to secure cost reductions through efficiency gains and changes to the cost methodology. The proposals, which are explained in more detail at Annex D, are:
1) A new fee for PCN soil sampling and testing of £21.53 per hectare tested. This new charge would remove the current public subsidy for this service. It would also improve consistency with PCN sampling and testing undertaken for other plant health services where costs are already recovered through charges (eg. PCN testing as part of the pre-export service for ware potatoes for export).
The charging model assumes that the applicant who requests PCN soil sampling and testing of a particular field, and who is subsequently invoiced for this service, will pass these costs on, apportioning them amongst the growers who use that field for seed potato production. This removes the current public subsidy for this service.
2) Change the growing season field-based inspection charges for pre-basic and approved stocks from a time-based charge to a hectare-based charge. The aim is to standardise charging for growing season inspections of seed potatoes and to simplify the fee structures. The fee for inspection of pre-basic tissue culture will, however, remain time-based, as this is carried out on very small quantities of material. The fee would be £134.48 per hour, set in 15 minute units with a 30 minute minimum fee.
3) Change the inspection fee for harvested tubers from hectare-based to time- based, to improve simplicity. The new fee would be £127.37 per hour, set in 15 minute units with a 30 minute minimum fee.
4) A separate fee of 48p per label for the issue of printed labels. Growers who print their own labels will be charged 12p per label for the issue of blank labels and be subject to annual auditing of label production records, the cost of which is included in the label fee.
12 5) A new fee of £14.76 for processing paper-based SPCS applications, which reflects the cost of putting applications on line. These staff costs are currently apportioned across the SPCS fees. This fee is in line with the Governments’ policy of digital by default. From April 2016 to March 2017, there were 514 on- line applications and 1684 paper-based applications. 52.These proposed changes will increase the cost of this service from £572,000 (based on the current methodology and 2014/15 costs) to £643,000 (based on 2016/17 costs and the new cost methodology) per year. This £71,000 net increase in the costs per year comprises an additional £106,282 from the new fee for PCN soil sampling and testing, offset by a £35,212 reduction in the overall cost base as calculated by the new cost methodology (including efficiency gains and savings from customers moving applications on-line as a result of bringing in a separate fee for paper based applications). Impact on businesses
53.Based on data from 2016/17 compared with 2015/16 and our provisional understanding of how the proposed charging mechanisms will work, it is likely that approximately 69% of businesses will experience an increase in their costs, with:
45% of businesses experiencing an increase of £500 or less per year;
10% experiencing an increase between £501 and £1,000 per year;
8% experiencing an increase between £1,001 and £2,000 per year; and 6% experiencing an increase between £2,001 and £5,000 per year.
54.The other 31% of businesses could experience a decrease in their costs, with:
25% experiencing a decrease of between £1 and £500 per year;
3% experiencing a decrease of between £501 and £2,000 per year;
3% experiencing a decrease of between £2001 and £4,000 per year.
7. Plant passporting services Background
55.In the EU Single Market plant health checks are focused on the place of production. There are no border checks but spot checks may take place anywhere in the trade chain. A limited range of plants which host the most serious pests and diseases require a plant passport to facilitate their movement between and within the EU member states.
13 56.Plant passports facilitate trade and may only be issued by growers who are registered and authorised for the purpose. Authorisation involves the provision of basic details about the business, followed by an inspection of the premises and plants by APHA. Once authorised, growers can issue as many plant passports as required. Visits by APHA are also necessary to maintain authorisation to issue plant passports. The number of these inspections will depend on the plant health risk associated with the particular plants grown and the size of the business. Generally these range from two to four visits during the year.
57.Plant passporting authorisation lasts for 12 months and therefore growers must re- apply for authorisation each year. Fees apply for the statutory inspections carried out by APHA in conferring and maintaining this authority.
58.In 2016/17, 762 businesses used plant passporting services. Current charging position
59.Fees for inspections in connection with an application for authority to issue plant passports, for ensuring compliance with authorisation terms and conditions, and/or renewal of a license are time based, with a current fee of £46.10 for each quarter hour and a minimum fee of £92.19 per visit.
60.In reviewing the cost base for this service (i.e. £405,445 per year based on the current methodology and 2014/15 data), it was found that not all eligible costs had been taken into account in the existing charging methodology, resulting in fees which significantly under recovered costs. This oversight dates back to 2011/12 and a previous review of plant health fees. The methodology developed at the time assumed incorrectly that customers would be invoiced for both the time an inspector spent on site, as well as the time they spent processing the application in the office. It set the hourly fee at the level required to recover full cost assuming that all these hours would be included on invoices. However, only the time an inspector spends on site is actually invoiced, meaning that the level at which the hourly rate needed to be set in order to recover full cost has been significantly underestimated. As a result, this service is currently being subsidised by around £180,000 per year by government. Proposed changes to fees 61.The main change to the fees for this service will be to correct how the hourly fee is calculated so that it is set at the level required to recover the full costs of delivery. The new cost methodology estimates costs of £370,914 for 2016/17 (i.e. £34,531 less than the current methodology reflecting greater precision in how the new methodology calculates the different elements of expenditure).
62.Fees for inspection visits will increase from £46.10 to £73.85 for each quarter hour spent on site and the minimum fee will increase from £92.19 to £147.70 per visit. These changes will remove the existing public subsidy for this service.
14 63.Given the increases in these fees, we are proposing to phase their introduction in three steps in order to support businesses and give them time to plan and prepare. With this phasing, full-cost recovery would be achieved by April 2019. This would mean that 50% of the increase in fees would be applied in April 2018; 25% in October 2018 and the remaining 25% in April 2019. The table at Annex E shows how the fees will be phased in.
64.In addition, we are proposing a new fee of £18.78 for handling and processing paper- based plant passporting applications which reflects the cost of putting the applications on-line. These staff costs are currently apportioned across all plant passporting fee payers. This change is in line with the Governments’ policy of digital by default. In 2016/17, there were 215 on-line applications and 826 paper-based applications. We would introduce this new fee in April 2018. Impact on businesses
65.Introducing the proposed changes to the charges for inspection visits is expected to increase the overall cost to businesses by £145,000 a year.
66.In 2016/17, over 81% of customers using plant passporting services were invoiced for one hour or less of inspection time. The majority of businesses will receive a maximum of two visits a year. Based on data from 2016/17 compared with 2015/16 we expect that:
approximately 78% of businesses may experience an increase in costs of £200 or less per year;
17% of businesses may experience an increase of between £201 and £500 per year;
2.5% of businesses may experience an increase of between £501 and £1,000 per year;
2 % of businesses may experience an increase of between £1,001 and £2,000 per year; and,
less than1% of businesses may experience an increase of over £2001 per year.
67.Phasing of the increases for the inspection visits to achieve full-cost recovery by April 2019 would incrementally increase costs to businesses over time. The overall cost to business would increase by £72,500 in April 2018, rising to £108,750 in October 2018 and then to £145,000 from April 2019 onwards.
15 8. Potato cyst nematode testing
68.In addition, we are proposing to introduce a new charge for potato cyst nematode (PCN) soil sampling and testing. The fee will be of £21.53 per hectare tested and it will apply to samples taken for the certification of seed potatoes (see section 6) and other materials as necessary.
9. Export certification services Background
69.Export certification services facilitate British trade. They provide assurance for the high quality of our nation’s exports and enable exporters to demonstrate that materials meet the plant health conditions of the countries to which our exporters sell goods. The government is determined to create the best trading framework for the sector and we are continuing to have constructive discussions with partners about our future trading relationship. Within Defra, the Great British Food Unit is taking forward the UK Food and Drink International Action Plan, an ambitious programme targeting an extra £2.9bn of food and drink exports by 2020. Defra is also working with the Department for International Trade to boost export opportunities.
70.Most countries outside the EU require that consignments of plants and plant produce must be accompanied by a phytosanitary (plant health) certificate issued by the National Plant Protection Organisation in the exporting country. A phytosanitary certificate provides importing countries with an assurance that consignments meet their plant health import conditions. Consignments without this certificate are likely to be rejected at the point of entry, destroyed or returned to the exporting country.
71.In most cases, depending on the requirements of the importing country, phytosanitary certificates can only be issued following satisfactory official inspection of the material for export. In some circumstances it may also be necessary for a sample to be examined by the official laboratory, which for England and Wales is Fera Science Ltd.
72.APHA provides the following export-related services: 1) Issue of a phytosanitary certificate following inspection and (where necessary) laboratory examination of samples for exports other than grain. In 2015/16, APHA recorded 1,453.75 hours for this service and for 2016/17, 1,418.50 hours were recorded and 1,172 samples taken. 2) Issue of a phytosanitary certificate where no inspection visit is required. This may or may not require a laboratory test. In 2016/17: 6,709 certificates were issued following a laboratory test, involving 16,231 samples tested.
16 3,645 certificates were issued without a laboratory test. 3) Amendment of phytosanitary certificates after issue to accommodate changes requested by the exporter. In 2016/17, 367 certificates were amended at the exporter’s request. 4) For consignments of grain for export, APHA audits the inspections carried out by authorised trade grain inspectors. In 2016/17, there were five audit inspections with 25 hours recorded. 5) Pre-export inspections as required by the importing country to check material during the growing season prior to an application for an export certificate. In 2016/17, APHA recorded 444.5 hours for this service and 454 samples were taken. 73.In 2016/17, 644 businesses used these export services. Current charging position
74.The current fees for the five export services described in the previous section are set out in Annex F. They are based on the current charging methodology and 2014/15 costs of £1,505,813.
75.In reviewing the cost base for export services it was found that not all eligible costs for inspection visits had been taken into account in the existing charging model, resulting in fees which significantly under recovered costs. This oversight dates back to 2011/12 and the previous review of plant health fees. The methodology developed at the time assumed incorrectly that customers would be invoiced for both the time an inspector spent on site, as well as the time they spent processing the application in the office. It set the hourly fee at the level required to recover full cost assuming that all these hours would be included on invoices. However, only the time an inspector spends on site is actually invoiced, meaning that the level at which the hourly rate needed to be set in order to recover full cost has been significantly underestimated. As a result, this service has been subsidised by around £700,000 per year by government.
76.Reduced rates apply to fees for small businesses and individuals exporting one-off or relatively small volumes of commercial or non-commercial material (e.g. amateur plant enthusiasts, universities or other non-commercial scientific establishments). It enables them to undertake a small number of exports at a rate equal to half that charged to other exporters.
77.The concession applies to exporters whose cumulative charge for the export service in any one financial year is equal or less than £250. To be eligible for a reduction in fees an exporter must either not be registered for VAT in respect of trade in plants, plant products or related materials or make no taxable supply of these products (non- commercial export), or have a value of certified exports of less than £5,000 in the previous financial year. The cost of operating this concession was £29,000 in 2016/17
17 and forms part of the overall cost base for export services, although this is not currently recovered in full due to the existing public subsidy needed to fund this service. Proposed changes to fees 78.In line with Government policy to charge for publicly provided goods and services and in order to continue providing a high standard of assurance for English and Welsh exports, APHA’s certification services needs to be financed by recovering costs from service users. The proposed changes therefore include increasing fees for inspection visits to correct the previous under-recovery where exporters have been receiving a public subsidy of around £700,000 per year. 79.We are also proposing changes to the package of fees to simplify how we charge. Additionally, to make fees fairer, we are seeking to improve how we align the cost of delivering the service to individual customers. The proposals, which are summarised at Annex F, are as follows: 1) Change the fee structure for inspection visits in respect of applications for export certificates and set the hourly rate to achieve full cost recovery, as follows:
(continuing) an hourly fee for inspection visits set at £73.65 for each quarter hour, with a minimum fees of £147.30; with
a separate fee of £30.76 for each sample tested; and,
a separate fee of £22.59 for the issue of the certificate.
This provides a fairer basis for charging as not all inspections lead to a sample being tested and some others can lead to many samples being tested. In comparison, the current fees cover the inspection, laboratory charge and issue of a certificate at £65.24 for each quarter hour, with the minimum fee of £130.48 per visit.
2) For audit inspections of authorised grain inspections, the fee will change from a flat fee of £59.53 per visit to £26.40 for each quarter hour, with a minimum fee of £52.80 per visit. This achieves full cost recovery and provides greater transparency.
3) Change the fee structure for pre-export inspections and set the hourly rate to achieve full cost recovery, as follows:
(continuing) an hourly fee for the inspection visit set at £73.65 for each quarter hour, with a minimum fee of £147.30 and,
a separate fee of £30.76 for each sample tested.
18 This provides a fairer basis for charging as not all inspections lead to a sample being tested. The current fees cover the inspection and laboratory charges at £49.68 for each quarter hour, with a minimum fee of £99.36 per visit.
4) Change the fee structure for the issue of phytosanitary certificates where no inspection visit is required, as follows:
each applicant would be charged £22.59 for the issue of the certificate and,
where the application also requires a laboratory test, each sample tested would incur an additional charge of £30.76.
The proposal to charge for each sample tested aims to ensure that the costs of laboratory tests are aligned more closely to the cost of issuing phytosanitary certificates to individual applicants. At the moment, the fee for a certificate which includes laboratory testing is the same regardless of how many laboratory tests are needed to issue the certificate. Some applications for a phytosanitary certificate require a number of different samples to be tested and under this proposal each sample tested would incur a charge of £30.76.
5) A new fee for the laboratory testing of export samples, particularly consignments of seeds, where the testing requirements specified by the importing country are more stringent than for routine export-related laboratory testing. These specialist bespoke tests will include an initial screening and fee to check for pests and diseases which, if found, would rule out other further testing and associated charges. A table of proposed charges can be found in Annex F. 80.Given the increase in fees for the export-related services and/or the changes in how we propose to charge in 1) to 5) above, we are proposing to phase in the increases in charges for these services to allow businesses time to plan and prepare. The fees would be introduced in three steps so that full-cost recovery is achieved by April 2019 (50% of the increase to be applied in April 2018; 25% in October 2018 and the remaining 25% in April 2019). More details are given at Annex F.
81.The remaining proposals will be implemented in April 2018:
A new fee of £14.76 to recover the cost of amending a certificate after issue at the request of the exporter.
To retain the concessionary rate arrangement with the resultant shortfall in income being met by government. When the export fee proposals are introduced, the cost of operating this concession was £22,000 in 2016/17.
A new fee of £14.76 for handling and processing paper-based applications which reflects the cost of putting the applications on-line. These staff costs are currently apportioned across the fees for export certification. This change is line
19 with the Governments’ policy of digital by default. In 2016/17, there were 7,309 on-line applications and 7,372 paper-based applications.
82.The proposals for export services are designed to recover the cost of providing the services, which is £1.335m based on APHA’s new cost methodology using 2016/17 cost data. In 2016/17, £710,048 of this cost was paid by exporters, leaving £624,952 paid by government due to the under-recovery of the costs for inspection visits. Impact on businesses
83.The proposed changes to fees are expected to increase overall costs to businesses by £624,952 a year. Based on data from 2016/17 we expect that:
approximately 83% of businesses may experience an increase of £500 per year or less.
5% of businesses may experience an increase of between £501 and £1,000;
5% may experience an increase of between £1,001 and £2,000 per year;
1% may experience an increase of between £2,001 and £3,000 per year;
approximately 6% may experience an increase in fees of £3,001 or more per year. Some of the businesses in this category will see large-scale increases in fees as a result of the proposal to charge for each sample submitted for laboratory testing where phytosanitary certificates are issued without a site visit. For example, one company could see an increase of £23,550 per year which, based on 2016/17 data, would be spread over 211 invoices. Paragraph 78 explains the anomaly in the current fee structure for this service whereby customers are charged a flat rate per application even if their application requires multiple tests.
84.Phasing in the increases for the inspection visits to achieve full-cost recovery by April 2019 would incrementally increase costs to businesses over time. The overall cost to business would increase by £312,476 in April 2018, rising to £468,714 in October 2018 and then to £624,952 from April 2019 onwards.
Export advice
85.As part of providing export-related services, APHA also provides advice to businesses in support of their applications, such as advice on other countries’ plant health import requirements. The cost of providing this advice, based on 2016/17 data, is estimated to cost around £206,000 per year, which is approximately 15% of the total costs of export services. It is included in the cost base for export services and is currently recovered from all businesses using export services.
20 86.There are no specific proposals in this consultation about changing how APHA provides export advice and recovers the costs. However, we would welcome your comments and suggestions on alternative ways of making export-related information available to businesses with the aim of reducing the costs of providing this advice and hence the fees for other export services. Examples of alternative approaches could be:
Introduce a separate fee for advice related to an application for a phytosanitary certificate, whereby those directly receiving the advice would pay for the cost of providing it. Our initial assessment is that a fee could be set at around £50 per hour, although the practical aspects of implementing such a fee would need careful consideration and assessment.
Expand how we make information on other countries import requirements available to businesses (for example, on-line or other digital methods). This would help businesses to become more self-reliant and reduce requests for advice and hence costs and fees.
10. Plant health licensing services Background and current charging position
87.Around the world there are many plant pests and diseases which, if they were to enter and become established in the UK could cause serious damage to our economy and environment. To guard against the spread of these harmful organisms, the Plant Health (England) Order 2015 and the Plant Health Order (Wales) 2006 prohibit the import, movement and keeping of certain high risk plants, plant pests and other material (e.g. soil). In order to provide for trials, scientific or varietal selection work on plants, plant pests, soil and other growing medium which would otherwise be prohibited entry into the UK, the Order provides for the import, movement and keeping of prohibited material under licence, subject to appropriate precautions.
88.APHA provides the following licensing services:
1) Consideration and production of the initial licence (including technical and scientific assessments and inspection of the premises at which the material is kept).
2) Subsequent amendments to an existing licence.
3) Annual renewal of existing licences.
21 4) Inspections to monitor compliance with licence terms and conditions. The frequency of these monitoring visits is determined by the plant health risk associated with the type of material imported or kept.
89.The current fees for these services are set out in Annex G. A proportion of the costs of providing licensing services are currently met by government, including the cost of the travel cap which is currently set at two hours for inspection visits to monitor compliance.
90. During 2016/17, 162 businesses used these services in England and Wales with 277 licences in place. Proposed changes to fees
91.Following a review of the way in which licensing services are delivered we have removed the annual licence renewal process and the associated charge. We have also removed the cost of the renewal process from the cost base for this service. As a result the cost base of £197,093, calculated using data from 2014/15 and the current methodology, was reduced to £80,000 based on 2016/17 costs and the new cost methodology.
92.The annual renewal process has been replaced by a much simpler process, involving the issue of annual letters of authority for the import of material subject to licensing, rather than full licence renewal. A fee of £42.50 for the issue of annual letters of authority will be introduced in April 2018. Based on 2016/17 data, 252 of the 277 licence holders have an import licence and are likely to benefit from this simpler process and lower charge. The remaining 25 licence holders do not have an import licence and the process for these licenses has not changed.
93.Whilst this change in process has reduced the cost of providing licensing services to £62,000, additional costs of £18,000 have been added to the cost base to take account of costs which are currently met by government. By removing this existing public subsidy and ensuring full-cost recovery is achieved, the total costs for this service for 2016/17 are £80,000. Consequently, the other scientific licensing fees will increase, and the travel cap of two hours for inspection visits will be removed. The proposed fees are at Annex G, although other ways to charge for activities within this service could be possible.
94.Given the increases in application fees and the fees to vary an existing licence (where this requires scientific or technical assessment), we are proposing that the increases be phased in three steps, so that full-cost recovery is achieved by April 2019 (50% of the increase in fees to be applied in April 2018; 25% in October 2018; with the remaining 25% in April 2019). Further details are at Annex G.
22 95.In addition, we are proposing to clarify the scope of licensing in the charging legislation to ensure that applications and inspections and associated charges reflect current and future licensing activities. Impact on businesses
96.The proposed changes to fees will increase the total cost to business by approximately £18,000 a year from £62,000 to £80,000.
97.Phasing in the increase in fees to achieve full-cost recovery by April 2019 would incrementally increase costs to businesses over time. The overall cost to business will increase by £9,000 in April 2018, rising to £13,500 in October 2018 and then to £18,000 from April 2019 onwards. The actual increase each business will face in 2018/19 will depend on the amount and type of scientific licensing services they use and when those services are used.
11. Fruit propagating material certification services Background and current charging position
98.Three EU Implementing Directives, adopted in 2014, introducing specific requirements for identity, quality, labelling and packaging have been transposed in new Regulations which came into force on 1 June 2017. These harmonisation measures will facilitate intra-community trade; are cost neutral and are voluntary in as much as they will only apply to producers choosing to certify their produce to EU standards. The regulations will replace the current voluntary certification schemes with statutory schemes.
99.The existing charge for the voluntary scheme is £72 per hour. Proposed changes to fees
100. The existing charges of £72 per hour for the voluntary scheme will be replaced by a statutory fee but for 2017 we propose keeping the fee for this service at the same level as the current voluntary scheme. A further review of costs and income is being undertaken by APHA with a view to adjusting the statutory fee level for 2018. The 2015/16 cost of service provision using the new cost methodology was £37,407 and was used to set the fee of £72 for 2017. The cost of service provision for 2016/17 is £56,000 which suggests that fees may have to increase to around £113 per hour in 2018. This will be reviewed over the 2017/18 financial year.
23 Impact on businesses
101. Using APHAs new cost methodology and based on data from 2016/17, we expect that:
70% of businesses (7) may experience an increase of £500 per year or less
10% of businesses (1) may experience an increase of £1000 to £2000 per year
10% of businesses (1) may experience an increase of £2000 to £3000 per year
10% of businesses (1) may experience an increase of £3001 or more per year
102. The business in this category sees the largest percentage of inspectorate time (74%) 363.25 hours of the whole scheme.
24 Annex A – Consultation questions About you
1. What size is your business? (please tick one category)
Micro (0-9 employees)
Small (10-49 employees)
Medium (50-249 employees)
Large (250+ employees)
Sole trader
N/A (trade organisation)
Don’t know
2. Which category best describes your business? (please tick one category) Commercial Industry association Research organisation Government Other
3. Which category of plant health service is used most frequently by the business? (please tick one)
Import inspection service
Export certification services
Seed potato certification services
25 Plant health licensing services
Plant passporting services
Sampling and testing of potatoes from Egypt and Lebanon
Fruit propagating material certification
Other Please specify
If you use more than one plant health service, please complete a separate questionnaire for each service used. Your response
The questions in this section are intended to find out your views on the proposed changes set out in the consultation document. The questions are set out in a way that will help us to analyse the responses. There will be space at the end for any thoughts / comments / views/ suggestions that are not captured by these questions.
4. For the service you selected in question 3, please indicate how the proposed changes outlined in sections 4 – 10 of the consultation document will financially impact the business in relation to overall turnover. (please tick one category)
Don’t know / Moderate No impact Minor impact unsure impact Major impact
5. Please provide any additional information about the financial impact on your business.
26 6. For the service you selected in question 3, please indicate how the proposed changes outlined in sections 4 – 10 of the consultation document will impact on the business operations and administration. (please tick one category)
Don’t know / Moderate No impact Minor impact unsure impact Major impact
Please provide any additional information about the impact on your business operations and administration.
7. For the service you selected in question 3, will the business experience a cost increase as a result of the proposed changes outlined in sections 4 – 10 of the consultation document? Yes/no
If ‘yes’, please proceed to questions 9. If ‘no’, please proceed to question 10.
8. How likely is the business to manage this cost increases by: passing on the extra cost to customers? Very unlikely / quite unlikely / don’t know or unsure/ quite likely / very likely reducing profits? Very unlikely / quite unlikely / don’t know or unsure/ quite likely / very likely reducing other costs? Very unlikely / quite unlikely / don’t know or unsure/ quite likely / very
27 likely reducing their use of plant health services? Very unlikely / quite unlikely / don’t know or unsure/ quite likely / very likely
Other Please specify below
Please provide any additional information about the how business will manage the cost increases.
9. For the service you selected in question 3, what impact, if any, do you expect the changes set out in the consultation document to have on the following:
Compliance with plant health rules No impact / minor impact / don’t know or unsure / moderate impact / major impact Small businesses No impact / minor impact / don’t know or unsure / moderate impact / major impact
Competitive advantage across the No impact / minor impact / don’t know or unsure / sector moderate impact / major impact
Volume of trade in the sector No impact / minor impact / don’t know or unsure / moderate impact / major impact
Please provide any additional information about the likely impact on the sector
28 10. For the service you selected in question 3, do you think that the proposed fees: a) are simpler and more transparent than the current fees? yes/no
b) are fairer in how they recover the cost of delivering the service to individual customers? yes/no
11. Do you think there are other options which could achieve the objectives of making fees simpler and more transparent whilst achieving full cost recovery? If yes, please describe these briefly below.
12. Do you have any other comments in relation to fees and charges for plant health services? If ‘yes’, please comment briefly below.
29 Export advice
The questions in this section relate specifically to advice given in relation to export certification services. There are no specific proposals in this consultation about changing how APHA provides export advice and recovers the costs. However, we would welcome your comments and suggestions on alternative ways of making export-related information available to businesses. Further information can be found on page 20 of the Consultation Document.
13. Does the business currently ask PHSI for advice on exports (e.g. enquiries relating to other countries’ plant health import requirements for which APHA currently recovers the costs from all businesses using export services)?
If ‘yes’, please proceed to questions 12 and 13. If ‘no’, please click SUBMIT at the bottom of the page.
14. The cost of providing this advice is currently recovered from all export services users. Do you have any suggestions as to how APHA could more closely align the charging for advice to the use of the service? If yes, please describe this briefly below.
15. Do you have any suggestions as to how APHA could expand the way it makes information on the import requirements of other countries available to businesses in England and Wales? If yes, please describe this briefly below.
30 Using the service
16. Does the business face any significant additional time burdens as a result of using the service you selected in question 3? Yes/no
If you answered ‘yes’, please specify and estimate the amount of time taken
17. Does the business incur any significant additional costs as a result of using the service you selected in question 3? Yes/no
If you answered ‘yes’, please specify and estimate the cost
31 Annex A 1
Organisations invited to respond
Trade bodies or associations invited to respond to the consultation:
Agindustries, Airport Operators Association, Associated British Ports, Association of Port Health, Authorities, Bonsai Traders' Association, British Association of Rose Breeders, British & European Geranium Society, British Protected Ornamentals Association, British Cactus & Succulent Society, British Christmas Tree Growers Association, British Dahlia Growers' Association, British Gladiolus Society, British International Freight Association, British Iris Society, British National Carnation Society, British Ornamental Plant Producers, British Pelargonium & Geranium Society, British Ports Association, British Potato Council, British Potato Trade Association, British Retail Consortium, British Society of Plant Breeders, British Tomato Growers' Association, Chrysanthemum Growers' Association Ltd, Daffodil Society, Farmers Union of Wales, Federation of Small Businesses, Flower Import Trade Association, Freight Transport Association, Fresh Potato Suppliers Association, Fresh Produce Consortium, Grain and Feed Trade Association, British Growers' Association, Herb Society, Home Grown Cereals Authority, Horticulture Development Council, Horticultural Trades Association, International Camellia Society, International Plant Propagators Society, National Association of British and Irish Millers, National Begonia Society, National Dahlia Society, National Farmers Union, National Farmers Union – Cymru, Nuclear Stock Association, Ornamental Aquatic Trade Association, Potato Processors' Association, UK Major Ports Group Ltd.
32 Annex B – Background on plant health services and charging policy
Why do we need statutory plant health services?
A nation better protected against plant diseases is one of the four impact objectives in Defra’s ‘Creating a great place for living’ strategy to 2020. Defra’s Plant Health Service acts to deliver this objective through delivery of effective plant health controls in the UK whilst facilitating the trade of plants and sustainable economic growth. These controls are essential to deliver the UK’s food security and environmental protection needs.
There are many harmful plant pests and diseases not present in the UK, which if introduced (e.g. through the importation of commodities) and allowed to establish would seriously damage horticulture and agriculture, including the UK’s ability to export affected commodities. Impact on the wider environment and biodiversity is also a major and growing concern. International and EU frameworks set out the legal and non-statutory standards required to minimise the risk of such pests being introduced, while avoiding unnecessary restrictions on trade.
The potential threat to production and trade from pests entering the UK is significant. The UK cereal crop alone is worth over £2 billion. Annually some 10-20% of horticultural production is lost to pests and diseases and growers spend over £300m pa on pesticides.
An independent economic evaluation of plant health measures estimated benefit: cost ratios for a sample of key pests ranging from 3.1:1 to 29.8:1 and a benefit: cost ratio of 17.1:1 for the English potato industry alone.
Each year around 80,000 to 100,000 consignments of plants and plant produce are imported into England and Wales from non-EU countries, which pose a risk of introducing new plant pests and diseases harmful to our crops and ecosystems. In 2015/16 there were 1,528 interceptions of plant pests on imported consignments of plants and plant produce. The cost of eradicating outbreaks is borne by landowners or producers, with an estimated cost of £40,000 per outbreak.
The value of exports of un-milled cereals, plants and flowers, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, fresh potatoes and seeds for sowing (just part of the trade facilitated by Defra export service) to countries outside the EU is estimated at £135m per year. Around 13,500 phytosanitary certificates are issued annually.
APHA is responsible, on behalf of Defra, for providing plant health services in England and, on behalf of the Welsh Government, in Wales. APHA’s Plant Health and Seeds
33 Inspectorate (PHSI) implements the necessary controls and hence facilitates the trade and the movement of plants and plant products. The Scottish Government is responsible for implementation of the controls in Scotland. Separate, but similar arrangements apply in Northern Ireland.
Rationale for intervention
In the absence of public controls on plant health, plant movement and trade would generally be driven by private decisions about acceptable levels of plant health risk for individual businesses and their effort in preventing or controlling pests and disease are likely be lower than would be optimal for society. This is likely to increase the risk of transmission and spread of the pests and disease and hence economic losses affecting both buyers of the plants and other UK businesses and sectors that are not necessarily directly involved in this trade. Ecosystem services losses resulting from infestations of natural flora would clearly affect the society as whole.
Review of fees for plant health services in 2011/12
Before April 2012, fees for five plant health services (plant health import inspections, seed potato certification, plant health licences, plant passports and sampling of potatoes originating from Egypt and the Lebanon) hadn’t increased for many years, resulting in income received from business users being less than 35% of the cost of the service provision. Following a public consultation in 2011, a phased increase in fees was implemented in 2012 with the intention of achieving full-cost recovery for these services by 2014. The third and final phase of this review was implemented through the Plant Health (Fees) (England) Regulations 2014.
Fees for plant health export certification services were the subject of a separate public consultation in 2012. These fees also hadn’t increased for several years, resulting in income from business users being less than 19% of the cost of the service provision. A phased increase in fees for export certification services was also introduced with the aim of achieving full cost recovery by 2015. The third and final phase of this review was implemented through the Plant Health (Export Certification) (England) (Amendment) Order 2015.
In response to comments received during the public consultations on the proposed fee increases, government-business taskforces were created, with the aim of developing more efficient plant health services with simple and transparent charges. Further efficiencies were achieved in 2015/16 and some costs have come down, such as overheads and hard charges for some services.
34 Annex C – Proposed charges for import inspections
Document and identity checks
Currently separate charges (£5.71) are applied for each type of check. These checks are to be combined, resulting in a reduced charge of £9.71 for both.
Physical inspections
A comparison of the existing physical inspection fees, based on consignment size/volume, and the proposed flat fee per consignment is given below.
By changing to the proposed flat fee per consignment there would no longer be an initial charge, an additional charge and a maximum charge.
The proposed fees are based on cost data from a rolling two year average of inspection time for each type of commodity, having first discounted any data anomalies. This approach increases the quantity of data analysed and so lessens the amount of variance in the fees each time they are reviewed or updated. Limited variance is expected for commodities for which a large number of consignments are imported each year. For commodities where only a small number of consignments are imported each year, such as bulbs, it is likely that the fees might be subject to more variance between years, since the data set used to calculate the fees will be smaller.
Current inspection fee Proposed inspection fee per consignment Quantity Fee for each Fee for each consignment or consignment or relevant part of relevant part of a consignment a consignment (daytime (non-daytime working hours) working hours) Cuttings, up to 10,000 in £47.87 £71.80 £139.84 seedlings number
35 Current inspection fee Proposed inspection fee per consignment each additional £1.91, up to a £.87, up to a 1,000, or part maximum of maximum of thereof £382.92 £574.38 Shrubs, trees up to 1,000 in £47.87 £71.80 £152.41 (other than cut number Christmas trees), other each additional £1.17, up to a £1.76, up to a woody nursery 100, or part maximum of maximum of plants including thereof £382.92 £574.38 forest reproductive material (other than seed) Bulbs, corms, up to 200 kg £47.87 £71.80 £233.18 rhizomes, tubers, intended each additional £0.44, up to a £0.65, up to a for planting 10 kg, or part maximum of maximum of thereof £382.92 £574.38 Seeds, tissue up to 100 kg £20.51 £30.77 £117.81 cultures each additional £0.47, up to a £0.70, up to a 10 kg, or part maximum of maximum of thereof £382.92 £574.38 Other plants up to 5,000 in £47.87 £71.80 £152.41 intended for number planting, each additional £0.47, up to a £0.70, up to a 100, or part maximum of maximum of thereof £382.92 £574.38 Cut flowers up to 20,000 in £47.87 £71.80 £33.42 number each additional £0.37, up to a £0.55, up to a 1,000, or part maximum of maximum of thereof £382.92 £574.38 Branches with up to 100 kg £47.87 £71.80 £64.67 foliage, parts of conifers each additional £4.76, up to a £7.14, up to a 100 kg, or part maximum of maximum of thereof £382.92 £574.38 Cut Christmas up to 1,000 in £47.87 £71.80 £122.89* trees number each additional £4.76, up to a £7.14, up to a 100, or part maximum of maximum of thereof £382.92 £574.38 Leaves of up to 100 kg £47.87 £71.80 £75.30 plants, such as each additional £4.76, up to a £7.14, up to a herbs, spices 10 kg, or part maximum of maximum of and leafy
36 Current inspection fee Proposed inspection fee per consignment vegetables thereof £382.92 £574.38
Fruits, up to 25,000 £47.87 £71.80 £57.45 vegetables kg (other than leafy each additional £1.91 £2.87 vegetables) 1,000 kg, or part thereof Tubers of up to 25,000 £143.60 (for each £215.39 (for each £156.63 potatoes kg lot) lot) each additional £143.60 (for each £215.39 (for each 25,000 kg, or lot) lot) part thereof Soil and up to 25,000 £47.87 £71.80 £122.89* growing kg medium, bark each additional £1.91, up to a £2.87, up to a 1,000 kg, or maximum of maximum of part thereof £382.92 £574.38 Grain up to 25,000 £47.87 £71.80 £133.23 kg each additional £1.91, up to a £2.87, up to a 1,000 kg, or maximum of maximum of part thereof £1,914.60 £2,871.90 Other plants or Per £47.87 £11.16 plant products consignment not specified elsewhere * fees for these commodities are set at an average hourly inspection rate as they have not been imported in recent years and hence we have no commodity-based time recording data from which to calculate the fees. We will keep this under review and set revised fees should these commodities be imported in the future.
EU legislation provides for a reduction in the normal level of import inspections for consignments where there is continued evidence of pest and disease freedom, with a proportionally reduced fee collected for every eligible consignment. Where reduced levels of inspection apply the proposed inspection fee per consignment would be proportionally reduced.
Sampling charge
Where samples are taken by APHA inspectors because of the suspected presence of a pest or disease, a fee of ££157.08 would be applied to cover the costs of laboratory testing.
37 Annex D – Proposed charges for seed potato certification services
Service Current fee Proposed fee
Sampling and testing for (none) £21.53 per hectare Potato cyst nematode (PCN) of land on which seed potatoes are to be grown (new charge)
Growing season inspections for:
Pre-basic grade £129.84 per hour or part of £134.48 per hectare, set in ¼ an hour hectare units with minimum charge of ½ ha
Pre-basic tissue culture £129.84 per hour or part of £134.48 per hour set in 15 minute an hour units with a 30 minute minimum fee.
Basic S grade £64.92 per half hectare or £116.94 per hectare with part of a half hectare, with a minimum charge of 1 ha minimum fee of £129.84
Basic SE grade £64.92 per half hectare or £116.94 per hectare with part of a half hectare, with a minimum charge of 1 ha minimum fee of £129.84
Basic E grade £61.71 per half hectare or £114.35 per hectare with part of a half hectare, with a minimum charge of 1 ha minimum fee of £123.43
Certified A or B grade £56.10 per half hectare or £103.94 per hectare with part of a half hectare, with a minimum charge of 1ha minimum fee of £112.20
Inspections of harvested Up to two inspections 19.24 £127.37 per hour set in 15 minute tubers 38.47 per half hectare or units with a 30 minute minimum part of half hectare; fee.
Third and subsequent inspections £129.84 per
38 Service Current fee Proposed fee
hour or part of an hour
Charge for providing printed 48p per label labels
Charge for the issue of blank 12p per label labels
Charge for processing paper- £14.76 per application based applications
39 Annex E – Proposed phasing in of fees for plant passporting
¼ Hour Charge ½ Hour Charge 1 Hour Charge
Current Fee £46.10 £92.19 £184.40
April 2018 50% £59.98 £119.96 £239.92 uplifted fee
October 2018 £66.91 £133.82 £267.64 75% uplifted fee
April 2019 100% £73.85 £147.70 £295.40 (fully implemented increase)
Processing paper No charge No charge £18.78 based applications
40 Annex F – Proposed charges for export services
Service Current fee Proposed fee
Pre-export inspection £49.68 for each quarter hour on Each applicant will be charged for site, with minimum fee of £99.36 the inspection visit at £73.65 for per visit. No additional charge each quarter hour on site, with a where the inspector takes a minimum fee £147.30 per visit. sample for laboratory testing. Where the inspector takes a sample for laboratory testing, each sample tested would incur an additional charge of £30.76
Issue of phytosanitary certificate without £13.87 per certificate £22.59 per certificate inspection or laboratory testing
Issue of phytosanitary £65.24 for each quarter hour on Each applicant will be charged certificate with inspection site, with minimum fee £130.48 £22.59 for the issue of a per visit. No additional charge phytosanitary certificate plus for where the inspector takes a the inspection visit at £73.65 for sample for laboratory testing. each quarter hour on site, with a minimum fee £147.30 per visit. Where the inspector takes a sample for laboratory testing, each sample tested would incur an additional charge of £30.76.
Laboratory testing of each sample submitted by £36.35 £30.76 exporters
Amending a certificate No charge £14.76 for each amended after issue at exporter's certificate request
Fees for testing samples No charge Initial screening fee of £247 per (particularly seeds) to sample (to check for pests and meet specialist diseases which, if found, would requirements determined rule out other further testing and by the importing country associated charges). If further
41 testing is required, specific charges based on the test required (see table at E1 below).
Processing paper-based No charge £14.76 per application applications
Audit inspection of £59.53 per visit £26.40 for each quarter hour, with authorised grain minimum fee of £52.80 inspectors
Concessionary rate for small businesses
No change to current arrangements. Applies to small exporters whose cumulative charge for the export service in any one financial year is equal to or less than £250. To be eligible the exporter must either not be VAT registered in respect of trade in plants or make no taxable supply of these products (non-commercial export), or have a value of certified exports of less than £5000 in the previous financial year
Annex F1 – proposed fees for testing export seed samples to meet specialist requirements determined by the importing country Each sample of seeds submitted for specialist bespoke testing, will first undergo an initial examination to check for pests and diseases which, if present would rule out further testing. The charge for this initial examination would be £247.
If the sample passes the initial examination, the fee will be charged on the basis of the test required (either polymerase chain reaction PCR or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ELISA) and the number of seeds required to detect the virus under investigation as specified by the importing country and/or international testing requirements (fees are shown in the table below).
If the importing country requires the detection of additional viruses in the same sample, an additional fee would be charged (the additional fee is shown in the table below).
The proposed fees will be phased in between April 2018 and April 2019 in three steps. The fees will be set at 50% in April 2018, 75% in October2018 and the full fee in April 2019. For example:
42 The initial examination charge will be charged at £123.50 in April 2018, £185.25 in October 2018 and £247 in April 2019.
A PCR test using a sample size of 3000 seeds to detect one virus would be charged at £217.98 in April 2018, £326.96 in October 2018 and £435.95 in April 2019
Test Sample size (No Fee per sample to Additional fee for each of seeds) detect one virus additional virus to be detected in the same £ per sample sample
£ per sample
PCR 1000 £254.30 £87.19
2000 £348.76 £101.72
3000 £435.95 £108.99
10000 £639.39 £116.25
20000* £2354.13* (not applicable)
ELISA 1000** £225.24 £101.72
2000 £290.63 £130.79
3000** £225.24 £101.72
9000 and over £646.66 £210.71
* this sample size and fee covers a suite of viruses (Pospiviroid screen)
** note that the fee for 1,000 seeds and 3,000 seeds involves 10 and 12 sub- samples respectively and the time taken to test these sub-samples is the same (155 minutes) hence the fee is the same. For samples of 2,000 seeds, 20 sub-samples are tested taking 200 minutes and for 9,000-10,000 seeds, 100 sub-samples taking 445 minutes, hence higher fees for these two sample sizes.
43 Annex F2 – proposed phasing in of (1) fees for inspection visits, (2) additional fees for issue of a phytosanitary certificates and for testing samples
(1)
Inspection visits ¼ Hour Charge ½ Hour Charge 1 Hour Charge
Current Fee £65.24 £130.48 £260.96
April 2018 50% £69.45 £138.90 £277.78 uplifted fee
October 2018 £71.55 £143.10 £286.19 75% uplifted fee
April 2019 100% £73.65 £147.30 £294.60 (fully implemented increase)
44 Annex G - Proposed charges for plant health licensing services
Current fee Proposed fee
Application for licence (other than soil £809.83 £995 or growing medium)
Application for licence (other than soil £809.83 + £31.86 per item £995 + £52.45 per item or growing medium) covering 5 or more items
Application for licence, soil or growing £584.14 £745 medium
Application for licence, soil or growing £584.14 +£31.86 per item £745 + £52.45 per item medium
Inspection and associated activity £46.11 per hour / part of £70 per hour / for site time, compliance visit hour for site time, travel travel time and admin time time (capped at 2 hours) set in 15 minute units with and admin time a 30 minute minimum fee
Annual renewal of existing licences £265.21
Annual renewal of existing licence £31.86 with no changes
Issue of annual letter of authority £42.50
Application for licence authorising the £31.86 £42.50 introduction of potatoes originating in the region of Akkar or Bekaa of Lebanon*
*this type of licence application will be extended to also cover licences issued in exercise of any EU derogations or for other activities prohibited by the Plant Health (England) Order 2015.
45 Annex G1- Proposed phasing in of fees for licensing services
Application fee for Application fee Variations of licence (other than for licence licences requiring soil of growing covering soil and scientific or medium) other growing technical medium assessment
Current fee £809.83 £584.14 £265.21
April 2018 50% £902 £664.50 £322.71 uplifted fee/
October 2018 £948.51 £705.20 £351.81 75% uplifted fee
April 2019 100% £995.36 £745.41 £380.25 (fully implemented increase)
46